Optically Controlled Seeding of Raman Forward Scattering and Injection of Electrons in a Self-Modulated Laser-Wakefield Accelerator

W.-T. Chen, T.-Y. Chien, C.-H. Lee, J.-Y. Lin, J. Wang, and S.-Y. Chen

Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 075003 – Published 20 February 2004

Abstract

Optical seeding of plasma waves and the injection of electrons are key issues in self-modulated laser-wakefield accelerators. By implementing a copropagating laser prepulse with proper timing, we are able to control the growth of Raman forward scattering and the production of accelerated electrons. The dependence of the Raman intensity on prepulse timing indicates that the seeding of Raman forward scattering is dominated by the ionization-induced wakefield, and the dependence of the divergence and number of accelerated electrons further reveals that the stimulated Raman backward scattering of the prepulse plays the essential role of injecting hot electrons into the fast plasma wave driven by the main pulse.

Received 5 September 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.075003

Authors & Affiliations

W.-T. Chen^1,2, T.-Y. Chien^1,3, C.-H. Lee⁴, J.-Y. Lin⁵, J. Wang^1,3,6, and S.-Y. Chen¹

¹Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 106, Taiwan
²Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
³Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
⁴Institute of Applied Science and Engineering Research, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
⁵Department of Physics, National Chung Cheng University, Chia-Yi 621, Taiwan
⁶Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan

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Issue

Vol. 92, Iss. 7 — 20 February 2004

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